Nostalgia
by Iulia
Summary: [SasuSaku][Nostalgia] a mixed feeling of happiness, sadness, and longing when recalling a person, place, or event from the past, or the past in general [Sequel to Catharsis]


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto

**A/N:** Okay, second fic! XD it's kinda-like the sequel to Catharsis but it can stand alone… ermm.. this is just a oneshot.. and.. uhhmmmmmm… please review? Please please please pretty please...

**NOSTALGIA**

Much to her chagrin, it rained on her wedding day – the one day in her life she had been waiting for, wishing for, dreaming about was wet and cold. Frowning, she rubbed her hands together for warmth. She had just come from her wedding and her husband was already halfway through the house. He didn't even bother to tour her around the house. Not that she expected anything else from him… he was Sasuke, after all. And Sasuke… Sasuke just wasn't… he just wasn't _nice_.

The fact that her husband was nowhere to be found wasn't sitting in well with her. Even if she did expect him to be rude, that didn't help at all in making her feel better. It was her wedding day, and she had wished to be carried of bridal style into their honeymoon suite to consummate their love. The memory of her wedding was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Nothing had gone according to her dreams. Oh sure, she was wearing a pristine white gown but there hadn't been any compliment from her husband. She had planned to use pink flowers but her husband just had the gall to call them "too pink" and the tenacity to have them removed and replaced with red and white roses – "the colors of the Uchiha", he had said. Her family members disliked him immensely as they knew of his status as a traitor. Naruto had worn an orange tie. Ino had been trying in vain to comfort her, but all she was doing was reminding her how… how wrong everything was. Hinata had stuttered all through the readings. She even had the jitters while her father was giving her hand to Sasuke and in consequence, an irked Sasuke practically had to pry her hands off from her dad's. Sasuke had absolutely no patience for picture taking and scowled all throughout the process. And to top it all off… it RAINED!

So here she was, soaked to the bones, with mud all over her wedding gown, dangerously close to tears, in a huge house she had never been to before, and her husband nowhere in sight.

Blinking back tears, she sighed, thinking that there was no use crying over spilled milk.

She took a few tentative steps into the foyer and shivered. The house was terribly empty, as empty as the rest of the district. She didn't know if it was the cold or if it was something else, but something was making her terribly uncomfortable. Shivering some more, she decided that she would explore the house. After all, it was as much hers now as it was his, right? She walked into what was probably the living room, although she couldn't be sure because white sheets were covering every piece of furniture. 'I take it Sasuke never entertains', she mused. Moving on, she entered a door to the right. Apparently, the door led to the dining room. The big mahogany table was covered with a thick film of dust. Running a finger through the surface, she couldn't help but sneeze. What followed was a coughing fit that made her decide that it was time to move on to the next room. It came to no surprise to her that the room adjacent to the dining room was the kitchen. It had everything a kitchen should have. It had a refrigerator, a stove, an oven, and a lot of pots and pans. There was a small table in the corner, it was where Sasuke probably ate. Inspecting the sink, she saw a bunch of plates that had yet to be washed. Apparently, Sasuke was lazy when it came to housework. At first, she thought it odd that Sasuke would have a completely furnished kitchen but then thought better of it when she remembered that his family was rich. They probably had the money to buy every necessary appliance way before her family could dredge up enough money to buy a refrigerator. The appliances, which were probably once white, were now yellow with age and disuse. And much unlike her house, there were no drawings attached to the magnets on the refrigerator. There just wasn't any warmth.

As she passed through a window, she heard the soft pitter patter of rain, and she was reminded that it was her wedding day… her rainy wedding day… rain was an omen that bode ill warnings… she was suddenly unsure of everything. A festering doubt was creeping inside her heart about her dear Sasuke-kun.

She had wanted to go to the rooms but she was suddenly afraid that Sasuke would be offended at her initiative to explore, she decided that it was time to return to the foyer. Everything in the house spoke of the downfall of the Uchiha's. The abundance of beautiful but old furniture spoke of a former grandeur but the lack of new furniture indicated the abrupt stop to the said grandeur. The fact that the furniture were dusty meant that nobody was there to use them, highlighting Sasuke's solitude. Fresh tears had gathered into her eyes again but for an entirely new reason. She felt sorry for her husband. He had lost everything. And even if wanted nothing more than to deny it, she knew that his life was a joke. He had wanted to restore the name of the Uchiha's to its former grandeur… to avenge his once illustrious clan but all he succeeded in doing was to forever taint the family's reputation by turning into a traitor himself. The name of the Uchiha no longer evoked admiration, after its downfall, it had evoked only pity, and after the last Uchiha's betrayal, it had evoked scorn. She looked at the red and white fan on her sleeve and suddenly felt uneasy wearing it. Sasuke always wore the fan on his clothes. When she was thirteen, she was awed whenever she saw him wearing the fan. But now, standing in the midst of the main house of the clan looking at a picture frame which contained a photograph of Sasuke, his father and mother, and a boy, probably Itachi, whose picture was scratched out… she, the newest member of the clan realized what the fan really stood for… it stood for the loss of a legacy, the downfall of an illustrious clan, and the betrayals of its last two sons. It stood for pain, loss, treachery, and grief.

The urge to vomit almost became too strong to bear and she had to fight her impulse to turn back and run away. She wanted to go back to her own home, back to her parents, back to safety, to security, to warmth. But she couldn't run away now, she couldn't abandon Sasuke, not after he had lost everything, not after everything he had been through. She loved him so she couldn't do this to him.

"Sakura…"

She jumped at the sound of Sasuke's deep voice. The picture frame that she was holding fell with a clatter to the floor.

"I-I'm sorry Sasuke-kun", she stuttered, bending down to pick up the picture frame.

Sasuke was silent as he too bent down to pick up the said frame.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…" Sakura said again, watching as his eyes softened as he wiped the dust off the frame. She was feeling terribly guilty. Walking through the house felt like she was invading Sasuke's privacy. It felt like she was peeling away all his layers, seeing his imperfections clearly for the first time… seeing his pain… meeting the broken little boy that was hidden deep inside of him. She was starting to really understand Sasuke and the darkness that lay within him. And she felt like she was unwelcome in the big empty house.

"I'm really sorry Sas-.."

"It doesn't matter", he cut her off, "here", he muttered, handing her a towel.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the towel. So Sasuke went ahead of her to get the towel so that she could dry off? He didn't want her to get sick? She suddenly felt a lump in her throat and found that she couldn't make herself move.

Sasuke raised a brow at her and shoved the towel to her hands, "Well? Are you just going to stand there or are you going to take this?"

His voiced waked her from her stupor and suddenly everything was clear to her. Ignoring his rudeness, she gave him one of her biggest smiles and took the towel from him.

Yes… everything was clear. She would make it work. She loved him. And the fact that her wedding was less than perfect didn't even matter anymore. She didn't care that her family didn't like him, she didn't care that Naruto wore an orange tie, she didn't care that Ino was making things worse, she didn't care that Hinata stuttered all throughout the readings, she didn't care that she had the jitters, she didn't care that Sasuke scowled at the camera, she didn't even care if was raining. All that mattered was that she was married to the man she loved, broken though he was.

And as she finished drying herself off with the towel, she took Sasuke's hand in hers. He wouldn't carry her, but she knew now that it was better if they just held hands.

And as Sasuke led her to the master bedroom, she looked at the window she had passed through before and was pleased to see that the rain had stopped… and the sun was shining.

This was her new home... and if she should feel any homesickness in the future, it would not be fore her parents' house, it would be directed towards this house. _Nostalgia..._


End file.
